Friday 10 April 2015

Acid King - 'Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere' (Album Review)



Album Type: Full-Length
Date Released: 14/4/2015
Label: Svart Records

‘Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere’ CD//DD//LP track listing:

1). Intro
2). Silent Pictures
3). Coming Down from Outer Space
4). Laser Headlights
5). Red River
6). Infinite Skies
7).Center of Everything
8). Outro

Acid King is:

Lori S. | Vocals, guitar
Joey Osbourne | Drums
Mark Lamb | Bass

Review:

It’s been a decade since Acid King last released any new studio material. ‘Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere’ is the bands fourth long player and sees the legendary three piece packing serious power and heaviness yet again. A product of the Bay Area, the band has constructed a well built new album choc full of hypnotic, repetitive fuzzed up riffs, laced with highly skilled drumming and esoteric vocals that shift you to another world.

The album is bookended by Intro and Outro that appear to be the same jam, split into two sections. The whole album feels like one long jam session which shows a cohesive looseness in the playing of the band. Although there is a jam element, the songs are layered and build magnificently. ‘Silent Pictures’ melodic guitar line helps the song soar in its centre.

‘Coming Down from Outer Space’ feels just like that with the densely fuzzy main riff being shimmied along by the drums of Joey Osbourne. The vocals again, lift the song to a different echelon and are a superb accompaniment to the music. Lori S really is a visionary and is completely unique in her vocal and musical delivery. ‘Center of Everywhere’ sees Lori’s vocals distorted and unnerving alongside the music.

Each of the tracks on ‘Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere’, move at a trudging pace with psychedelic overtones popping up throughout the duration. ‘Red River', 'Infinite Skies’ and the albums title track hook you in with their panache and grace. It is a joyous amalgamation of guitar and drum. ‘Infinite Skies’ main riff would sit on any Black Sabbath album in terms of its heaviness and repetitively dark tone, as the bass of Mark Lamb holds the whole album together in a very succinct and unassuming way barring the end of the title track where he takes centre stage to lead into the album closer.

There are countless stoner and doom metal bands around in the modern era, however when you get a band like Acid King that have been around for over two decades, you have to feel a sense of excitement over a new release. They helped write the book of stoner/doom/fuzz rock emanating from the early nineties, and their new opus is one of absolute greatness. The eight tracks on, ‘Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere’, flow majestically and organically. This is an album that will only mature and sound better each time. As Lori S proclaims in the albums press release,

“We never played this music for popularity. There are no rules. We do everything how we want to. Acid King has always been driven by that.”

Amen. The album artwork is awesome too.

Words by: Dominic Walsh

‘Middle of Nowhere, Center of Everywhere’ is available here

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